Debt, Leases, Taxes, and the Endogeneity of Corporate Tax Status

We provide evidence that corporate tax status is endogenous to financing decisions, which induces a spurious relation between measures of financial policy and many commonly used tax proxies. Using a forward-looking estimate of before-financing corporate marginal tax rates, we document a negative relation between operating leases and tax rates, and a positive relation between debt levels and tax rates. This is the first unambiguous evidence supporting the hypothesis that low tax rate firms lease more, and have lower debt levels, than high tax rate firms.     

An empirical comparison of bankruptcy models

Four types of bankruptcy prediction models based on financial statement ratios, cash flows, stock returns, and return standard deviations are compared. Based on a sample of bankruptcies from 1980 to 1991, results indicate that no existing model of bankruptcy adequately captures the data. During the last fiscal year preceding bankruptcy, none of the individual models may be excluded without a loss in explanatory power. If considered in isolation, the cash flow model discriminates most consistently two to three years before bankruptcy. By comparison, the ratio model is the best single model during the year immediately preceding bankruptcy. Quasi-jack-knifing procedures suggest that none of the models can reliably predict bankruptcy more than two years in advance.     

Outsourcing Canadian Armed Forces logistics in a foreign theatre

Successful outsourcing of military logistics depends much on cooperation and efficiency, and this article provides an in‐depth analysis of challenges this may pose using collaborative competence theory. Using an exploratory approach, this paper is based on a review of the existing literature and on the experience of the Canadian Armed Forces in a foreign theatre. Specifically, the information collected comes from on‐site observation during the UN mission in Bosnia, semistructured interviews, and archives. Our analysis shows that outsourcing military logistics activities in a foreign theatre should be seen as building and managing a “temporary network.” In order to overcome challenges in such a situation, the Armed Forces must specifically act on the adaptability of all individuals in the theatre. The approach should be based on “collaborative competence.” Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Attitudes toward Use of Advertising and Various Media Practices by Physicians

Advertising by physicians is a relatively recent phenomenon. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) consumers’ attitudes toward advertising by physicians; (b) whether certain potential consumer demographic variables account for any significant difference in attitudes toward physicians who advertise; and (c) which media consumers feel are appropriate for physicians’ advertising. The intent was to discover information that would be useful to physicians in planning promotional strategies and improving the quality of their advertising. The study seems to confirm the belief of many professionals that advertising and promotion clearly have a place in the future of health care services.     

An analysis of Japanese earnings forecast revisions with application to seasoned equity offerings

Using the bootstrap method, we explore the characteristics of revisions in Japanese earnings forecast data. We find that forecast revisions exhibit a downward trend over time as the actual earnings announcement date approaches, and are serially correlated with three significant lags. Using these characteristics we develop a model to estimate abnormal forecast revisions, and illustrate the model's use with a sample of Japanese companies announcing seasoned equity offerings (SEOs). In contrast to results obtained by studies using American data, our findings indicate significant positive upward revisions when Japanese firms announce an SEO.     

Fiscal harmonization in the European Union with public inputs

Fiscal harmonization among the European Union member states is a goal involving major difficulties for its implementation. Each country faces a particular trade-off between fiscal revenues generated by taxation and the productive efficiency loss induced by their respective tax code. This paper provides a quantitative analysis of these trade-offs for a number of the European Union (EU-15) member states using a dynamic general equilibrium model with public inputs. Calibration of the model for the EU-15 member states provides the following results: i) the maximum tax revenue level is relatively far from the current tax levels for most countries; ii) the cases of Sweden, Denmark and Finland are anomalous, as productive efficiency can be gained by lowering tax rates without affecting fiscal revenues; iii) in general, countries would obtain efficiency gains without changing fiscal revenues by reducing the capital tax and increasing the labor tax; and iv) capital tax harmonization to the average capital tax rate can be done with quite small changes in both fiscal revenues and output for most countries.     

French revolution or industrial revolution? A note on the contrasting experiences of England and France up to 1800

At the end of the eighteenth century, England and France both underwent revolutions: France the French Revolution, England the industrial revolution. This note sheds new light on these contrasting experiences in the histories of England and France by looking at the evolution of real consumer prices in London and Paris in the centuries leading up to 1800. Whilst in London, building workers were facing low and stable consumer prices over the period, leaving plenty of scope for a demand-driven consumer revolution (in particular after 1650), their Parisian counterparts had to engage in a year-long grind to maintain a decent living, and often had to cut consumption to make ends meet. The exercise conducted in the present paper gives a quantitative and economic underpinning to the notion that the French revolution did not arise out of nowhere, but rather had its roots in centuries of hardship amongst working class people as they struggled to make a living.     

Supply Chain Citizenship: Investigating the Antecedents of Customer Interorganizational Citizenship Behaviors

Research has consistently established the strategic importance of supply chain collaboration. As a result, interfirm behavioral dynamics and relationships have emerged as key topics for both the academic and practitioner communities. This paper explores an interpersonal exchange tactic that is inherent to many collaborative initiatives—interorganizational citizenship behaviors (ICBs). The study specifically investigates why retail customers in business‐to‐business exchange relationships would exhibit ICBs, and explores how they assess and respond to the ICBs of suppliers. Findings of the study suggest that customers generally interpret and value the various types of ICBs differently, resulting in differential effects regarding the supply chain performance and relational implications of the behavior. These results not only inform managerial practice but also provide future research opportunities in the area of ICBs and the broader realm of interpersonal supply chain dynamics.